I have been on both ends of this experience. Keep in mind, it may have nothing to do with your climbing ability. There are lots of other factors that may lead people to not want to associate with you. Perhaps they were ok talking with you when you when you first met, but upon watching you for a while, realized you just weren't the type of people they wanted to hang out with. Maybe someone in your group said something offensive while you were climbing...racial slur? Offensive remark about people from (fill in city here)? Off color comment about recent SCOTUS rulings on same-sex marriage? Perhaps, after watching you climb, they realized they were watching a complete shit show-accident waiting to happen. Maybe they were intimidated by your awesomeness. I know that as I get older...I sometimes just find young people annoying...could I possibly have been THAT annoying when I was 22? Don't answer that. There are lots of possibilities, who knows?

Alright so i was at summersville at the long wall. There was a group already there and we made friends quickly.. well after a while, I gear up to climb a 5.9 (forget the name). Well i couldnt finish the route.. my body was just crushed from 3 days prior of climbing from 9 am till about 7. i took a pretty sweet whipper on that route too. but after I was lowered to the ground the group we were talking to completely shunned us after that. It was so crazy, i couldnt understand what the deal was till our neighbors at the campsite (AAC) told us about some climbers being arrogant fucks.

Sorta... there's is someone I met from this forum and they climbed a much higher grade than me.

This wasn't an issue when I was driving their ass to the Red, it wasn't an issue when they needed me to set their tent up for them, wasn't even an issue when they didnt know how to operate their stove. They didn't seem to have a problem with me when they asked me to pick up groceries in town since I was going anyway.

However, once the subject of grades came up, I was a full 2 points below them. This meant that she had to find another partner to climb with - since neither douchewad bitchface or her new partner had a vehicle, I was good enough to be told I should drive them to the crag, but I wouldn't get any climbing in because I'm not at their level and her climbing is serious business.

Since I opted not to play taxi to someone who still hadn't paid for gas for the 10hr drive down, I was shunned for the rest of the time I was there... Quite comical to be having awesome conversations and connections with the other 99% of people I met and just the one dumbass giving the death glare every time I was within sight.

I have been on both ends of this experience. Keep in mind, it may have nothing to do with your climbing ability. There are lots of other factors that may lead people to not want to associate with you. Perhaps they were ok talking with you when you when you first met, but upon watching you for a while, realized you just weren't the type of people they wanted to hang out with. Maybe someone in your group said something offensive while you were climbing...racial slur? Offensive remark about people from (fill in city here)? Off color comment about recent SCOTUS rulings on same-sex marriage? Perhaps, after watching you climb, they realized they were watching a complete shit show-accident waiting to happen. Maybe they were intimidated by your awesomeness. I know that as I get older...I sometimes just find young people annoying...could I possibly have been THAT annoying when I was 22? Don't answer that. There are lots of possibilities, who knows?

I have struggled with saying something vs. not saying something. A lot of times, you can tell ow your comment would be received even before you open your mouth...

I put it like this on one occasion : "You obviously have no concerns about your safety but I'm going to have to be one of the ones who is going to have to help carry you out after you deck."

I was addressing two young girls that we encountered on a long walk in to a crag. The girls were lost and wandering through the bush. We told them to follow us to the crag. They both had big trad racks ... it was a sports crag and they were climbing sports routes. They were both obviously very inexperienced. I made my comment when they were attempting the start of a 5.8. It was a start from a platform where a fall could have been very messy. They had no idea of how to do the first move and on my asking, had never heard of a stick clip.

They watched my stick clip lesson then continued to make a fool of themselves on other routes ... mmm, funny how you can't get your hand onto a key pocket after you stick a bit of gear into it ...

I would say that if someone is the type who cannot bear to climb with another unless they are at equal grades, then yes - better make the small effort to find out what level they climb at and let them know that you are a TTB(Ticking Time bomb, meaning it is important for you to tick, tick, tick at a certain grade).

I don't climb hard, but can belay patiently and with complete attention to my partner on anything they get on. We agree beforehand whether my part of the climb is going to involve thrutching up something a little hard for me, using aid to get up something beyond what I can do, or they will clean the route themselves.

I have climbed with some wonderful people who are world class climbers whose agenda includes having fun. They can have a good day enjoying another person enjoying climbing.

My hardest leads have been with a partner who climbs 4 grades harder than I do, and they never seemed to have any issue partnering with me.(Though they DID once come up barefoot, another time with the rope dangling from their harness as I was still taking up the slack before putting them on belay and another time using only one hand, and on that one I got the satisfaction of the last laugh when they couldn't pull the crux one-handed after all...)

Maybe it is due to not having to scrunch climbing time into weekend cragging or precious work vacation destination trips. But yes - if someone cannot bear to climb with a "lesser" climber - do have the courtesy to let them know. I'd say being the sort who would knowing take rides and accept favors from someone they knew they were going to ditch is a much worse behavior than that of not being as hard a climber...

Sorta... there's is someone I met from this forum and they climbed a much higher grade than me.

This wasn't an issue when I was driving their ass to the Red, it wasn't an issue when they needed me to set their tent up for them, wasn't even an issue when they didnt know how to operate their stove. They didn't seem to have a problem with me when they asked me to pick up groceries in town since I was going anyway.

However, once the subject of grades came up, I was a full 2 points below them. This meant that she had to find another partner to climb with - since neither douchewad bitchface or her new partner had a vehicle, I was good enough to be told I should drive them to the crag, but I wouldn't get any climbing in because I'm not at their level and her climbing is serious business.

Since I opted not to play taxi to someone who still hadn't paid for gas for the 10hr drive down, I was shunned for the rest of the time I was there... Quite comical to be having awesome conversations and connections with the other 99% of people I met and just the one dumbass giving the death glare every time I was within sight.

first rule of road trips ...

dont go with someone who climbs much easier or harder than you ...

the "better" climber will be bored as hell ... and the "lesser" climber will be struggling on stuff all the time

many crags that the better climber will want to go to wont have stuff that the lesser climber can lead

and dont even talk about multi ... nothing kills a climbing trip than having to haul someone up 10+ pitches

find someone within a grade of you for long trips ...

its that simple

I disagree.

You get your day of 5.13 single-pitch wankery where I'll belay for hours on end on your project, you put up a toprope on an 11 for me to practice hard moves on while you're between burns.

The next day we'll go do a day of easy stuff while you rest up for your redpoint tomorrow. We do 15 pitches on a 5.6 just for the joy of it.

After that we meet some people split up for a day or two and climb again.

Holy shit, everybody wins! No need to be a douchebro just to prove you're better at a very (in the grand scheme of life) insignificant skill than someone else.

That sounds like a great plan. One thing that is a must is knowing what you want to acheive out of your trip. Last trip to the Red my fiancee wanted to get on easy sport climbs cause everything here is slick and moderate. She was pretty upset when we were stuck going to crags that was all 11's and 12's trying to find someone that wants to set up a top rope on a 5 star 12d when there is a lineup of people to redpoint it and the hardest we can climb is 11a. In the end nobody wins we didn't get on the climb and are stuck climbing sketchy crap. I like the idea of sharing days so everybody is happy. Going to crags that have a good mixture of grades and types and finding something there that will make you happy.

Have a plan on what you want to accomplish and a few backup plans if those fail. Rather then waiting an hour for a 4 star sport climb, do something else in the area and get it when they leave. Everyone wins.

In Ontario, at Metcalf Rock, we once heard a couple of guys talking through the trees.... it went a little something like this:

"hey, I've never climbed like this before... with the rope starting on the ground".... guy 2 says 'yeah, me neither, but i think this is the right knot to tie in with"...

my partner and I stared at eachother for a good 10 seconds of silence with thoughts bouncing between getting the heck out of there asap or giving up some of the day and walking over to have a friendly chat with these guys...

We did the right thing, we started a friendly chat, showed them this "new" thing called a figure 8, found them something a little easier than the 11c they wanted to start on and left with a high five and the feeling we did the right thing.... I could never live with myself had we left and one of them decked.

.....and I've met some arrogant people too....but to my fortune, I met them when I first started climbing outdoors, and regardless of how they passed along their suggestions (snarky might describe it right), the mix of knowledge and personal embarassment led me to seek the right mentors, the right advice and to be as self sufficient as possible..... mind you, in the context of ontario single pitch sport and trad.

In Ontario, at Metcalf Rock, we once heard a couple of guys talking through the trees.... it went a little something like this:

"hey, I've never climbed like this before... with the rope starting on the ground".... guy 2 says 'yeah, me neither, but i think this is the right knot to tie in with"...

my partner and I stared at eachother for a good 10 seconds of silence with thoughts bouncing between getting the heck out of there asap or giving up some of the day and walking over to have a friendly chat with these guys...

We did the right thing, we started a friendly chat, showed them this "new" thing called a figure 8, found them something a little easier than the 11c they wanted to start on and left with a high five and the feeling we did the right thing.... I could never live with myself had we left and one of them decked.

.....and I've met some arrogant people too....but to my fortune, I met them when I first started climbing outdoors, and regardless of how they passed along their suggestions (snarky might describe it right), the mix of knowledge and personal embarassment led me to seek the right mentors, the right advice and to be as self sufficient as possible..... mind you, in the context of ontario single pitch sport and trad.

Cheers!

Had a similar thing happen at Pillar 1 at Jordan. We were packing up to leave while two guy's climbing the 5.7 swaping leads after hanging one quickdraw each cause the climber would sketch out. After 7 or 8 swaps they make it to the anchors, lowered and stared at the draws for about a minute. I ask them if they know how to get them down, they say "nope...". So I taught them how to go in direct and clean the route. The last think I wanted on my concience was a guy hanging from the anchors with his rope on the ground. Sometimes you have to speak up every once in a while.

In Ontario, at Metcalf Rock, we once heard a couple of guys talking through the trees.... it went a little something like this:

"hey, I've never climbed like this before... with the rope starting on the ground".... guy 2 says 'yeah, me neither, but i think this is the right knot to tie in with"...

my partner and I stared at eachother for a good 10 seconds of silence with thoughts bouncing between getting the heck out of there asap or giving up some of the day and walking over to have a friendly chat with these guys...

We did the right thing, we started a friendly chat, showed them this "new" thing called a figure 8, found them something a little easier than the 11c they wanted to start on and left with a high five and the feeling we did the right thing.... I could never live with myself had we left and one of them decked.

.....and I've met some arrogant people too....but to my fortune, I met them when I first started climbing outdoors, and regardless of how they passed along their suggestions (snarky might describe it right), the mix of knowledge and personal embarassment led me to seek the right mentors, the right advice and to be as self sufficient as possible..... mind you, in the context of ontario single pitch sport and trad.

Cheers!

Had a similar thing happen at Pillar 1 at Jordan. We were packing up to leave while two guy's climbing the 5.7 swaping leads after hanging one quickdraw each cause the climber would sketch out. After 7 or 8 swaps they make it to the anchors, lowered and stared at the draws for about a minute. I ask them if they know how to get them down, they say "nope...". So I taught them how to go in direct and clean the route. The last think I wanted on my concience was a guy hanging from the anchors with his rope on the ground. Sometimes you have to speak up every once in a while.

I feel like this is just "welcome to Ontario climbing" cause just about every Saturday at Nemo something like this happens. You two are lucky that the people who were doing dumb things were receptive. Most of the people I've come across are snarky when I try to help them not kill themselves.

Regardless, I always feel like I have to speak up when I see something scary. But I do not speak up until I am sure that they cannot figure it out themselves, first. I cannot be responsible for how someone reacts to my advice. They can take it or leave it. But I do feel responsible to step in if I see something dangerous. That gives me a clean conscience, at least.

Regardless, I always feel like I have to speak up when I see something scary. But I do not speak up until I am sure that they cannot figure it out themselves, first. I cannot be responsible for how someone reacts to my advice. They can take it or leave it. But I do feel responsible to step in if I see something dangerous. That gives me a clean conscience, at least.

well no, none of my group was acting stupid or anything of the sort. all of us know what were doing and we were very friendly. your thoughts on my whipper could have been it though.. it looked bad from the ground but it wasnt bad at all. they could have thought what you said and that makes me think better of them. i'll go with that.

Assuming you were acting stupid as a group, you probably would not be aware of it. Most stupid groups think they are quite intelligent.